The present invention relates to an autoadaptive tactile device for a working center adapted to perform at least one operation upon a workpiece and comprising means for supporting the workpiece, a working head including a toolholder, and control means for effecting relative movement between the supporting means and the working head.
In particular, the machine may be a so-called machining centre with more than one working head.
In very high precision machining centres, the relative movement between the workpiece to be machined and a given working head is commanded under numerical control by means of very costly equipment which ensures very high precision. These machining centres operate satisfactorily with working heads equipped with tools, for example, for drilling, but cannot be adapted for fitting or assembling working heads, in which a predetermined position must be reached precisely, for example in order to fit or join together two mechanical parts.
Autoadaptive tactile devices capable of bringing a particular tool over a given position of a workpiece subject to a certain tolerance and of thereafter sensing or testing the workpiece itself in accordance with a predetermined law until the tool is arrested exactly in the desired position have already been proposed. These known autoadaptive tactile devices also require very sophisticated and costly electronic apparatus for command of the relative movements. They, moreover, have the disadvantage that they act as if mechanically rigid, so that failure of the electronic control to operate properly may lead to damage.
The object of the invention is to provide an autoadaptive tactile device which does not require any equipment for control of the movement after the approximate positioning of the tool relative to the workpiece and which lends itself both to positioning a machining tool and to positioning a fitting or assembly tool.